Puf family is an evolutionarily conserved protein family named after Pumilio (Drosophila) and FBF (Fem-3 mRNA-binding Factor, Caenorhabditis elegans). Puf family members are usually identified by the presence of eight tandem Puf repeats of ˜35-39 amino acids and the repeat binds to specific sequences in the 39 untranslated region (UTR) of a target mRNA. The Puf-A gene was first reported by J. Yu et al. and was found to play an important role not only in eye development, but also in primordial germ-cell migration and the specification of germ cell lineage (J Yu et al., A Novel puf-A Gene Predicted from Evolutionary Analysis Is Involved in the Development of Eyes and Primordial Germ-Cells, PLoS ONE 4(3): e4980. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004980).
Cancer remains a major public health problem worldwide. Tumor Protein P53, a tumor suppressor gene, is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer, with more than half of all human cancers carrying mutations in this particular gene. Notably, patients with mutated or deleted P53 have poorer prognosis and or higher drug resistance. Despite the advance in cancer therapy over the last few decades, the medical community still faces with the challenge of treating many types of cancer, especially mutated or deleted P53 cancer. Accordingly, there is still a need for a more effective and safe cancer treatment, especially for p53 deficient cancer. The present invention addresses this need and other needs.